Fighting the Odds
by Symphony-of-the-Soul
Summary: Another high school story, different than High School and Figure Skating but with the same characters, other than some extra OC's. MUCH different story, could be more dramatic if I update more often. XD
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Sonic characters, all OC's either belong to me or Echidnagirl!**

---Chapter 1------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seemed like everyone in the classroom sighed within the last 5 minutes. It was only first period, and everyone was ready for the day to end.

Why, you ask? After the first day full of cheesy ice-breaker games, mis-pronounced names, and "Let me get to know you" worksheets, everyone was fed up with Emerald High School, the most prestigious (and only) boarding school in Mobius.

A certain pink hedgehog fiddled with the hem of her green mini-skirt, the one that matched half of the other girls in the school. Practically every girl had her own variation of the outfit. Amy was no exception. She wore a black headband behind her ears that matched the black tank top under the green uniform jacket with the sleeves rolled up and her black heels.

A lavender-colored cat with a red jewel on her forehead wore a less revealing version, being one of the tomboys of the class. Under her green mini she had loose black pants, and wore the school-issued white flats. Under her jacket she had a tank top that consisted of green for the top half and white for the bottom.

The other tomboy in the class, an Echidna by the name of Cameron, had the same top as Blaze, and a long skirt that went down to her ankles hemmed with white. She also had the same shoes. She has brown fur and hair the same color parted over her right eye and going down to her waist.

Rouge the bat had an outfit closer to Amy's. Instead of heels, she wore solid black heeled boots. Instead of a headband, there were many gold bracelets around her wrists. She came to school the first day with more jewelry, but was forced to take it off.

Wave the Swallow used black combat boots, a black tank top, and a black skirt. Everyone who called her goth or emo was quickly pummeled by Storm the albatross, under the orders of Jet the Hawk. The babylon rogues were widely known as a gang of skaters that were forced to come to school by an unknown parent or guardian.

Boys weren't given quite so many options. Black dress pants, a white under shirt, a black jacket, green tie, and any choice of shoes were given as options to them. They wore it as baggy or as fitting as they liked, dispite warnings from the teachers to wear the uniforms properly.

Sonic the Hedgehog busied himself with finding ways to make trouble during the lecture.

Amy and Rouge carefully watched their nails.

Three of the "popular" group in the school, who were always changing their uniform style, passed notes around and laughed openly, knowing the teacher couldn't doing anything to them.

Hannah the Hedgehog, a blonde with medium-length curly hair, is the daughter of the superintendent of the school district and the school counselor. She acts like a perfect angel at home, which is why her parents would do anything for her and never believe teachers who claim she misbehaves.

Her two minions, Anna the Cat and Lanna the Rabbit are the only people Hannah trusts, and  
they hover around her like helicopters.

Peter the Porcupine napped in the desk behind his rather large grunts, Butch the bulldog and Spike the Crocodile. Not the smartest, but Peter saw this as a good thing, and adding in their brute strength, they were perfect for doing his dirty work and keeping his position of power in the school.

Peter is a wealthy person, the son of two large company owners who contribute large sums of money to the school. As an added bonus, Peter is a childhood friend of Hannah's. Another untouchable person at the top of the school.

Knuckles was putting all of his effort forth simply to not punch the teacher in the face. He sometimes got violent when he was confused, and given that this was science class, he didn't understand anything the fat old man with an overly-large mustache, A.K.A. Dr. Eggman, the school's sciene teacher and vice-principal was saying.

Cameron and Blaze scribbled down notes as the lecture went on- even though they were  
both tomboys, they cared about school and accelled at the subject. It didn't mean they had to enjoy it.

An orange Echidna by the name of Kevin was also scribbling down notes, but appeared to not know what the heck he was writing.

Wave was looking over blueprints for extreme gear.

Jet seemed to copy Peter's idea and took advantage of his desk behind Storm for a nap.

Storm was in the same position as Knuckles.

Silver the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog also took notes, but Silver was taking notes on all the weird things about Eggman, and Shadow ended up absent-mindedly doodling.

Espio the Chameleon seemed to be meditating.

Salvation. The bell rang. All the students moved on to gym class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Sonic characters, all OC's either belong to me or Echidnagirl!**

---Chapter 2------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Girl's Locker Room-

"Alright, everyone, line up." Hannah announced.

The now-dressed girls looked around, a bit confused, but did as they were told. Hannah smirked.

"Alright. Just so we all know, you all are now going to do everything that I say." She announced, completely confident that she'd get her way.

Protest went up through everyone but the barbies. One voice rose above the rest.

"And if we refuse?" Cameron asked, getting right up in Hannah's space while speaking.

Hannah didn't back down, shoving Cam back by her shoulders into line.

"Then I make your lives a living hell."

Cameron went to fight back, but Blaze grabbed her shoulder, completely clam, and shook her head at Cameron, stopping her from doing something she'd regret.

"I'll give it some time to sink in." Hannah concluded as the teacher called them out into the Gymnasium.

-Meanwhile, in the boys' locker room-

Things passed much less eventfully. They talked about whatever boys talk about, finished changing, and walked out into the gym, seeing Hannah and her helicopters leading the group out, being followed by the rest of the girls and a series of glares from them.

-In the gym-

Vector the Crocodile had revieved the roll of Gym teacher for the school. He seemed to enjoy himself too much ordering the group of students around the gym. They started fitness testing that day, starting with recording every student's powers.

"First is Blaze the Cat." Vector announced. "All of you will step forward, state your power, your battle type, and your weakness. Different testing areas will be at your disposal. Also name any special conditions to your powers." He finished.

Blaze stepped forward.

"My power is pyrokinesis. I'm a speed type, and my weakness is water."

"Hmm..." Vector mused on testing strategies. "For you we'll use a track with targets along it. Next is Anna the Cat."

Anna stepped forward as Blaze stepped back into the group.

"Uhh... I don't like, have a power. I have, like, people for that." She bragged, flipping her hair.

"Like, same here." Hannah piped up.

"Omigod, like, me too!" Lanna chimed, the three of them walking off to a different part of the gym to talk and giggle.

Vector sweatsropped, scribbling a few things down on his clipboard.

"Next is... Cameron the Echidna."

She stepped forward, looking like she was prepared for a long discussion.

"I'm a magic user... It's... Complicated. As I am now I could be a power type, I guess. I can transform using my magic... Then I suppose I could be a flying type as well... My weakness is that of I overuse my powers, I pass out." Cam explained.

"And she's a klutz!" Peter yelled, making Cam spin around.

"I'm coordinated enough to beat your butt at any fight you pick, no magic needed!"

Mutters began spreading throughout the gym, and Vector just stared at them.

"Oh, really?" Peter smirked. "Your scars say otherwise."

Cameron growled at him as he went on, despite the strange looks he revieved from the others.

"Why don't you take off that locket you always wear and show everyone?"

Cam stepped back, grabbing the spot on her shirt where the locket was hidden from view.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" She yelled back.

"Oh. So now you're an orphan, a klutz, and a liar?" Peter knew he'd won the argument. He knew exactly how to open old wounds.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Cam ran off to the locker rooms. Everyone just sat there, watching.

"...Okay... Kevin the Echidna." Vector said after a minute.

The orange Echidna stepped up.

"...I'm a magic user as well, except I use a spell book. I'm a power type, and my weakness is simply not having the book. I've memorized some spells, but other than that can't do much without it. "

"Mm-hmm...." Vector hummed as he scribbled down more on his paper. "Now it's Knuckles the Echidna.

Knuckles sweatdropped and stepped forward. "Strength is my power. I'm a power type. I have no weaknesses."

This time it was Vector's turn to sweatdrop. "Sure you don't, Knuckles. Sure you don't. Next is Rouge the Bat."

Rouge strutted up. "Kicking and stealth are my strong points. I'm a flying type, and my weakness is loud noises." She walked back,

"Espio, I already wrote down your stuff. You're good. In fact I only need to hear from Peter the Porcupine, Butch, and Spike now."

Peter walked up on all their behalfs. "Butch and spike are power types, as you probably guessed. I'm a speed type. You follow? I believe everything else is self-explanirory."

"Yeah, whatever. All of you go back to the locker rooms and change. We'll continue testing tomorrow." Vector knew he would have his hands full with this group.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Sonic characters, all OC's either belong to me or Echidnagirl!**

---Chapter 3------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bell rang, and they walked into the choir room, where Cam had fled to after her outburst. The choir teacher started playing an instrumental, and Cam was up on the show choir risers with her back to the door. She started singing.

If I could give you the world  
On a silver platter,  
Would it even matter?  
You'd still be mad at me.

If I could find in all this  
A dozen roses  
Which I would give to you  
You'd still be miserable!

'cuz in reality  
I'm gon be who I be.  
And I don't feel no faults.  
For the lies that you brought.  
You can try as you may,  
To break me down when I say  
That it ain't up to you  
Gonna do what you do

Hate on me, Hater.  
Now or later.  
'Cuz I'm gonna do me.  
You'll be made baby.  
Go 'head and hate on me, Hater.  
Now or later.  
I'm not afraid of  
What I got I paid for,  
You can hate on me.

Ooh, If I gave you peaches  
Out of my own garden  
And I made you a peach pie  
Would you slap me out?

Wonder if I gave you diamonds  
Out of my own woumb  
Would you feel the love?  
Or ask why not the moon?

If I gave you sanity  
For the whole of humanity  
Handed all the solutions  
For the pain and pollution

No matter where I live,  
Despite the things I give,  
You'll always be this way.  
So go 'head and

*Hate on me, Hater.  
Now or later.  
'Cuz I'm gonna do me.  
You'll be made, baby.  
Go 'head and hate on me, Hater.  
Now or later.  
I'm not afraid of  
What I got I paid for  
You can hate on me.

*Repeat

**You cannot hate on me  
'Cuz my mind is free  
Feel my destiny  
So it shall be

**Repeat

*Repeat

She had a beautiful voice.

The teacher, a blonde female bat, clapped for a moment.

"That was wonderful, Cameron. Remember, you're always welcome to rehearse here. Now class, go ahead and take your seats on the regular choir risors, the grey ones in an arc. It's about time for announcements."

As the class moved to sit down, a ring came over the speakers embedded into the ceiling. The principal, whom they knew as Eggman's almost identical brother Dr. Omletteman, came over the speaker.

"Welcome to the second day of school, everyone! Sport and club activities will post try-out and sign up lists tomorrow after school. Also, prefect armbands are in and are to be distributed after announcements. All new students who are in need of help should feel free to ask any of the prefects what you need to know. These bands will let you know they are. You will respect them, and they will return the favor. I specially picked them from each grade myself. That will be all, have a nice day everyone!"

As the announcement ended, Ms. Batson came out of her office, holding two armbands.

"Bet it's those people Peter and Hannah." Amy muttered to Rouge, who was sitting beside her. Rouge nodded in response.

Similar mutters were going through the rest of the sonic team. And as if approving this, Peter and Hannah both stood up to accept their positions.

"Congradulations-" She was cut off by Hannah, who snatched the band before the blonde teacher could finish her sentence.

"Thank you, thank you. You heard the man. You have to respect us now, and do whatever we say. So now, as a prefect, ... Huh?" She was cut off by Ms. Batson, who had snatched the cloth back from Hannah.

"I expect you to respect me as well. Now sit back down, young lady."

Hannah let out a huff, but sat back down, and Peter followed suit.

"Now, as I was saying, congratulations, Kevin and Cameron. You're the prefects for your graduating class."

"What!?" Hannah went on a hissy fit. "That's so unfair, though! What have THEY contributed to this school?! My parents are large benefactors to this school! I've been a prefect all the way through junior high! I'm the one with the most experience! Cameron is nothing but a little orphaned math and science geek with a sob story, who only has one friend in the entire school! She's a robot! I haven't once heard her laugh, or seen her give an actual smile to anyone! She's never had a boyfriend, either! No one's going to do what she says!"

"That's enough!" Ms. Batson yelled, suddenly becoming serious, which was a rare thing. "While the rest of you were out with your families during summer vacation, or were just signing up for classes here, Cameron and Kevin were moved in and helping teachers, learning all the ins and outs of each building, and all they needed to know regarding rules for the school year. They have already learned what they need to be prefects. Now, apologize to them."

Hannah glared at the teacher. "Make me"

Ms. Batson was getting frustrated. "Apologize now, young lady, or you're getting a detention and I will contact your parents."

Hannah gave her a... Was that a pitying look? "Oh, you want to be fired that badly? Well, so be it..."

"That is IT, Hannah! I expect you to be at detention after school today for 30 minutes. One more rude word out of your mouth, and it will be longer! I will not tolerate this from you like your other teachers. During detention you will write a letter of apology to Cameron." Mrs. Batson lectured.

Hannah's mouth hung open as she sat down, immediately being comforted by her faithful friends.

Cameron and Kevin got up and retrieved their armbands, which were white and decorated by the school insignia. They hurried back to their spots, troubled by the akward silence that filled the room.

Ms. Batson sighed. "Alright. Now for MY announcements. As you know, this is choir class, and it is required, like band. But, I believe singing is not for everyone. There are a large number of very talented students at this school, and the principal has agreed to one of my suggestions. Yours and one other class are going to be part of a wonderful program we're re-starting this year. The idea hasn't been put into use for a number of years now. But I believe using this method will make our group one of the best. You're all going to be a part of the Emerald High School's Voices of Value!" She threw her hands up announcing the name, expecting a positive reaction.

She got none. Only murmurs of disapproval. Until Peter chose to raise his voice.

"So all of us have to sing and dance?"

She shook her head in response. "No. Students who have the ability to sing and dance will, those who don't will be given a series of options. They could be a member of the stage crew, or the combo, which you may know better as band. There's also advertisers, people in charge of funds, and people to manage costumes. Not to mention we could probably give other jobs when the need arises. "

She checked the clock, and seeing that she only had 5 minutes left in class, decided to conclude her lecture. She went over to her desk, grabbing a stack of papers, handing them to the students at the ends to be passed around. "This is your try-out music. We'll work on it in class over the next few days, but try to learn it. Girls will get "Feels like today", and boys will get "Bob that Head by Rascal Flatts." Practice hard, and ask Cameron or Kevin if you can't reach me for questions."

The bell rang, and they moved to math.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Sonic characters, all OC's either belong to me or Echidnagirl!**

---Chapter 4---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In math, the students were greeted by an attractive lavender cat. She looked very young, like she was just out of college. The desks in the room were arranged in a circle.

"Hi, everyone! Just to remind you, my name's Jannette, and I'm your math teacher! We're going to play another game today! Go sit anywhere in the circle, in boy/girl order as far as you can." The cat announced.

A groan emerged from the mob, but the students did as they were told, regardless.

Once all were in place, Jannette pulled out a beach ball with writing all over it.

"Now, what you do, is you throw this to someone who hasn't had it yet. When you catch it, you answer the question that's under your right thumb. Understand?" She explained.

A nod came from a few people, but other than that, there was no reaction, including no denial, so she started, throwing the ball to Peter. He caught it, looking under his right thumb.

"What is your favorite color…? …Green." He threw it across the circle. Silver caught it.

"Do you have a crush on anyone? If so, what is their species…" He paused, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. "…She's a cat." He quickly threw the ball across the circle. Espio got it, while Jannette was giving a catlike grin, Montana was whispering with Hannah and Anna, and Blaze simply glanced at Silver, who was blushing even more now.

"What is your favorite story?" Espio closed his eyes while he thought, then opened them a second later. "The lonely little ninja star. You see, long ago-" Rouge knocked the ball out of his hands before he could continue. Butch caught it. "Are you in any sports? …FOOTBALL!" While yelling, he threw it. Knuckles got it.

"Favorite food? …Grapes." The ball went to Anna.

" 2+2=… uh… 5?" Snickers went through the room. Jannette sweatdropped. The ball went to Cam.

"How are you going to this academy? …I'm on a partial scholarship and I'm working 3 part-time jobs throughout the week." The popular people laughed. She threw the ball, hitting Hannah in the head.

"Hey!" Hannah jumped up, letting the ball bounce off across the floor. "She hit me!"

Jannette shrugged. "You weren't paying attention and you were supposed to catch it. Not my problem." She turned away, filing her nails.

Hannah let out a huff, picking up the ball and reading the question under her thumb.

"Favorite animal? Well, Hedgehog, of course." She threw to Shadow.

"Favorite color? Black." Next was Spike.

"Favorite subject? Uhh… lunch." Amy caught it.

"Instrument for band? None. I'm a majorette." Blaze's turn.

"Do you believe in ghosts? No." Wave's turn.

"My favorite color is purple." Jet's turn.

"A trait of mine? I'M THE FASTEST LIVING THING ON MOBIUS!" He threw it to Sonic, who didn't bother looking at the question.

"No, I AM!" He yelled, tossing the ball out of the circle.

"ENOUGH!" Jannette yelled, standing between them. "I will not tolerate fighting in my classroom. Now, I need to go make some copies. Play truth or dare until I get back, but be sure to keep it school appropriate. That means no nudity, no drugs, ect. Hannah, you start." She walked out of the room.

Hannah got an evil smile on her face. "Cameron, truth or dare?"

Cam looked wary of what Hannah was planning. "…Dare."

Her smile got wider. "Take off that locket of yours for one minute. And don't touch it."

"…" Cam just stared at Hannah.

"We're waiting, Cameron. If you don't do it soon, I'll have to add to the dare…"

Cam took the locket off, placing it on the desk in front of her. Golden cracks, the same color as the locket, seemed to go around her entire body, and glowed through her clothes. As they faded away, all that could be seen was scars on the open parts of her body. She looked at the clock, her eyes never leaving it. She was ready to put the locket back on as soon as a minute was up.

The only thing keeping the room out of an akward silence during the minute was Hannah and Peter snickering and whispering things to one another.

"No way anyone will like her now." Hannah muttered.

"Yeah. What a freak. The world would be better off without her…" Peter answered.

A minute passed. Cam grabbed her locket, all the scars instantly disappearing as soon as she made contact with it. She looped it around her neck, and tried changing the subject.

"Umm… Kevin, truth or dare?" She said, still feeling akward.

"…Truth." Kevin said, not wanting to risk a dare.

Cam thought for a second. "…Have you ever had a crush on someone before?"

Kevin's cheeks turned half a shade redder. "Yeah… Sonic, truth or dare?"

Sonic smirked. "Dare."

Kevin smirked right back. "Go to the person you like, and kiss them. On the lips."

Amy in particular suddenly became very focused on the dare.

Sonic's smirk disappeared as he sweatdropped, scratching the side of his head. "…What if I don't have feelings for anyone?"

"Pick your favorite, then." Kevin wasn't going to let him back out.

Jannette walked in, seeming to save Sonic. "I have worksheets! Sorry to interrupt your game, guys…"

Sonic let out a relieved sigh. Jannette noticed the sigh, smiling at Sonic.

"Well, if you're that disappointed about it, then I'll tell you what. Whatever you were on now applies to everyone in the class. Everyone should do whatever or say whatever it was, and can report to me with two witnesses that you've done it. You have until the end of the week, and it doesn't matter if you've been called on yet. Sound fair?"

The class was silent, most driven to speechlessness. As for Hannah, Peter, and crew, though… you could see the evil plots forming in their minds.

Jannette handed out the worksheets full of basic math obliviously.

"Work on that silently for the rest of class, mkay? If it doesn't get done, it's homework."

There was still no response. She walked to her desk and sat down, completely unaware of what she had done.

**Cam: You are such a cheater, you know that? Why can't you just write these things all the way through, like they were meant to be?**

**Me: Oh, be quiet, you. I had chocolate. I'm ADD when I have chocolate. **

**Cam: More like evil when you have chocolate.**

**Amy: I must disagree. I like this twist, right Sonic?**

**Sonic: (sweatdrops) Uh… what was with that glowy stuff?**

**Me: Oh, you'll find out… hehe…**

**Cam: You're gonna make me spill my guts, aren't you?**

**Me: Maybe, Ms. Prefect. But I have some plans for you farther into the month… evil plans…**

**Cam: (slaps her forehead) Of course you do. Am I being injured or assaulted again?**

**Me: Maybe, maybe not~ (wink wink) Thank you to Echidnagirl and Storm the Albatross for being the first to review!**

**Cam: Oh, joy…**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the official Sonic characters, all OC's either belong to me or Echidnagirl!**

---Chapter 5---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the bell finally rang, they moved through the hallway to Language Arts. They were greeted by a substitute teacher. The mean, short, bleached-blonde human they had met yesterday had gotten sick. They received a worksheet and asked the students if they had any questions. Peter raised his hand.

"Yes, uh… Porcupine…? Uh, I mean, Peter?" The sub asked.

"Ma'am, may we not converse unitedly?" He asked.

The sub tried thinking of what that meant. "Uh… no?" She guessed.

Peter got a bunch of high 5's, and the class began talking to each other freely.

Kevin looked up at the teacher. "He asked if we could not talk together."

"…Oh." The sub, embarrassed, went and sat back down at the desk.

Hannah, Peter, and Co. were off in their own group, while the rest were divided into girls and boys.

"So now we all have to kiss the person we like? With two witnesses?" Amy asked.

"That's what the lady said…" Wave trailed off.

"So… who is everyone planning on kissing?" Rouge finally brought up.

"Sonic, of course." Amy said with a wink. "What about you, Rouge?"

"I think I'll kiss Knucklehead. See his reaction." Rouge thought. "Wave? You?"

"My options or kind of limited." Wave scoffed. "But I am _not_ kissing Storm. So that leaves Jet, I guess." She shrugged. "Blaze?"

"Umm…" Blaze blushed, glancing over at the boys. She made eye contact with Silver, quickly snapping her head back. "…I think Silver…" She said, just loud enough for the group to hear. "You, Cameron?"

Cam sighed. "I honestly don't know. My only good guy friend is Kevin. But kissing him would just make things weird." She brushed her hair back out of her eye. "I was hoping my first kiss would be a _little_ more romantic than this. And with someone I'm actually in a relationship with. I don't know, alright?" She got sympathetic nods as she looked up. Her forehead made contact with the top of her desk, making a _whump_ sound.

---

"So, how about that dare?" Sonic asked. He was answered by a series of glares, annoyed looks, or just confusion. "Well, if it's that way, then why don't we just sort things out here?" Sonic suggested. "All of you. Spill. Who do you think you're gonna kiss?"

"You first, Faker." Shadow demanded.

Sonic sighed. "Amy." He stated. "She'll be ecstatic. Now what about you, Shads?"

"Don't know. Don't care." He said, blowing it off.

"Tails?" Sonic asked.

Tails shrugged. "None of these girls are my age, Sonic…"

"We'll have to invite Cream over, now won't we, then?" Sonic asked.

Tails did a facepalm.

"Silver?" Sonic went on.

Silver glanced over at the group of girls, meeting Blaze's gaze before she quickly looked away. "I'm thinking Blaze, maybe…" He said.

"Knuckles?" Sonic urged.

Knuckles smirked. "I'm gonna mess with Batgirl. I can't wait to see the look on her face…"

"Okay…." Sonic sweatdropped. "Espio?"

"Hmph." Was all her got.

"Jet?" Sonic asked.

"Wave, duh." Jet replied in his ever-so-annoying voice.

"Alright, Kevin?"

Kevin looked almost as confused. "The only girl I know well enough to even consider kissing is Cameron. But that would cause so many problems…" He said.

Knuckles patted him on the back. "Sorry, man. Must suck to be you right now."

Kevin turned and gave Knuckles an 'are you kidding me?' look. "Really? I feel _great_ about this situation."

A light _whump_ was heard over from the girls' group. As they guys looked over, Sonic laughed.

"Apparently she's feeling the same way." He said between the chuckles.

The conversations involving the dare were quickly dropped and shoved to the side to talk about a subject slightly less touchy. The groups of boys and girls merged together, still excluding Peter, Hannah, and co.

"So, Cam, what do you do for your jobs?" Amy asked.

Cam swung her legs back and forth. "Right after school I go to the dance studio uptown and teach a class. I teach jazz and hip-hop, of course. Tap would just give me an instant migraine and ballet is too stuck up. But it pays well. That lasts about an hour, then I go waitress somewhere I will not speak of, and that lasts for 2 and a half hours, then I go to a different restaurant and play the piano for an hour before coming back here. Then I usually do my homework and go to bed. So, how are you guys going to school here?"

"Parents." Kevin, Blaze, and Silver said, almost at the exact same time.

"The rest of us are on a full scholarship from GUN." Amy said.

"I see." Cam said, thinking deeply.

The rest of the period passed by with random conversations.

The bell rang, and students flooded the hallways, and the class went to lunch.

---

**I'm sorry for the short chapter and the EXTREMELY slow update! I've been visiting relatives, as well as in the last few days experiencing… erm… **_**female**_** problems that have caused writer's block. I will try to continue updating often even once I start school again, but I can't make any promises!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**REVIEWS ARE LOVED AND WILL EARN YOU A BATCH OF OXYGEN COOKIES!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, everyone. Sorry about the SO VERY SLOW update. I've been focusing on my other story far too much. Another apology, while I'm at it: I wrote the beginning of this chapter on my iPod and then e-mailed it to myself. So the paragraphs are divided strangely. You should be able to tell where I continued this on the computer. I'm trying to get all the updates I need to do out of the way before I go to horse camp, which will make me gone for another week. And no technology is allowed there, so I may bring a notepad and paper, but no promises.**

**All OC's belong to me or EchidnaGirl, except Danny the Echidna, who belongs to Sekunri.**

**I DO NOT OWN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. :(**

Chapter 6

As the students filed in for lunch, they dispersed to various tables.  
Selma, the lunch lady, was in the serving area distributing the food  
she had made, claiming that the reason it was't exactly 'normal'  
colored was the way it was cooked. She gave out death glares to every  
studen who looked at the food strangely along with their food.

"So, where do you want to sit today?" Sonic asked. He looked around  
the room for an empty table.

"Hey, Amy!" A group of people called to her from one of the small,  
circular tables that were designed to seat six people, but often were  
packed with more.

"Oh, that's the other Majorettes and the field commanders. We need to  
go over music scores. Maybe tomorrow, Sonic!" Amy waved at the group  
as she walked away and joined the table.

Cam and Kevin walked over to a different table in the corner of the  
large room with a couple of other Echidnas sitting at it.

The Babylon Rogues moved over to a set of tables that were claimed by  
the other skaters and punks of the school, while Shadow moved over to  
the table of people labled as 'goths'.  
Silver and Blaze wandered over to a group of their childhood friends,  
while Espio found a place alone to sit and meditate.

Hannah and Peter were surrounded by other 'popular' people, and the  
group spanned across about a fifth of the lunch room.

Rouge found a group of students that were average, but nice enough to  
get along with as Knuckles came to the decision to sit with the jocks.  
All that remained were Sonic and Tails.

"What do you exactly think they meant by 'We'?" Sonic asked his small,  
foxy friend.

Tails only shrugged.

Sonic decided to go sit with the jocks by Knuckles, an caught up to  
him before they actually reached the table. As they began to sit down,  
one of the football players blocked Knuckles' path.

"Hey, Red, your table is over THERE." The jock said, pointing to the  
table where the other Echidnas were sitting.

"It's a free country. I can sit where I want." Knuckles said, pushing  
the guy aside.

"Hey! Watch your attitude, you freak!" Another jock said, sitting  
across from the one who blocked Knuckles.

"You wanna fight, I'll give you one!" Knuckles said, putting his lunch  
down and his fists up.

Some students at the neighboring table walked over and started to form  
a circle around the two, chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and makin  
bets with one another abou who would win.

"Come on, guys, leave it alone." Sonic urged.

"Stay out of this, blue boy." A hefty wrestler warned.

It wasn't long before he table of Evhidnas noticed what was going on.

"Oh, no... Not again." A purple, female Echidna by the name of Felicia  
said. Her hair was fairly long, just past shoulder length, and she  
wore it over her eye much like Cam. One stripe of the bangs over her  
eye was dyed black, and she was very short and skinny. But in spite of  
this, she packed a mean punch, especially when she used her training  
in martial arts. She rarely used her powers, which gave her the  
ability to control the actions of a single person as long as her focus  
wasn't broken. Her general personality was very gentle. She was a  
junior this year.

"They just never learn, do they?" A senior named Danny growled,  
standing up from the table. Danny was a grey Echidna with dreads  
slightly thicker than Knuckles, and no bangs. He wasn't very social,  
but was very protective of the friends that he did manage to make,  
especially the girls. He wasn't unliked by people, most even got along  
with him. Those who were close to him knew that he worried a lot and  
became easily depressed, though, especially when he was lonely. He had a particular soft spot for girls that were crying or in need of protection. His powers were strength, like Knuckles', but he also knows martial arts.

"Come on, we need to go help." A blonde echidna with layered hair,  
also slightly past the shoulders said. Her name was Jazmin, and she  
was one of the more confident of the group. She wasn't afraid to make  
her voice heard, and she usually used a loud voice. She was slightly  
dense and had a bit of a temper, like most echidnas, and always stood  
up for herself. She had no specific power, though she was quite fast.  
She was a ninja, or at least a ninja-in-training, and taught Felicia  
martial arts. She was a sophomore this year. She stood up and started leading the way.

Cam and Kevin stood up with them. Kevin looked up a couple of spells  
he bookmarked in his book quickly to refresh his memory, and Cam  
pulled out an amulet that could turn into a staff should she need it.

Meanwhile, Knuckles and the football player had started throwing  
punches, and the table they were at had already been broken from  
Knuckles throwing the football player into it. When it became apparent  
that Knuckles would win, the other football players entered the  
circle, and started to gang up on Knuckles. While his back was turned,  
a couple of them who were also gifted with strength managed to grab  
him from behind and trap him in an arm lock. The rest of the Sonic  
Team tried to make their way through the crowd that had developed, but  
couldn't move the masses of  
People.

"Out of the way!" Jazmin demanded, shoving people aside to get  
through. The crowd more willingly parted for the group of Echidnas,  
because they had seen the fights in involving them before and had  
grown to enjoy them. Once they reached the inside of the circle,  
Jazmin immediately grabbed one of the football players holding  
Knuckles and tore him away from the red Echidna. She kicked him into  
the rubble of what once was a table.

When a different jock went after Jazmin, Danny immediately cut in and  
fought the jock himself.

Knuckles, now with a free arm, pulled himself away from the remaining  
wrestler and went after the football player who had originally started  
the fight.

Felicia cut off the wrestler from grabbing Knuckles again, her eyes flashing black. The wrestler's eyes also flashed black for a second, and the wrestler started holding off his friends from joining the fight.

"Stall for us, guys!" Cam yelled over the noise.

Cam and Kevin ran into the center of the circle, then started saying something to each other. They nodded, and took each other's hands. They said something, inaudible due to the noise of the crowd, but then a beautiful wall of gold and blue appeared, like an aurora. No one on the outside could get through, but Danny managed to throw the jock he was fighting out of it. Felicia made the wrestler she was controlling walk out of the barrier, then broke her control over him. Knuckles punched the football player out of the barrier with a punch, and Jazmin soon did the same with the boy she was fighting.

"Put down that wall and fight, cowards!" One of the jocks yelled, though he was ignored.

At that moment, the teachers came and managed to break up the circle of students, picking out those involved in the fight that weren't in the circle. A fat man that much resembled Eggman emerged from them, crossing his arms at the Echidnas within the barrier.

"Cameron and Kevin, put down that barrier this instant, and all of you, come to my office!" Bellowed Omeletteman.

Cam and Kevin snapped out of their daze and released each other's hands, bringing the barrier down. The group of echidnas followed the jocks to the office, where they stood on separate sides of the room. Omeletteman settled down in his chair behind his desk, not looking pleased.

"Alright, we'll start with the easy way. Who started this fight? I don't want any finger pointing, just step forward." The principal demanded.

Knuckles and the football player named Eric did so.

"Knuckles the Echidna and Eric the Bulldog. You'll be getting 2 months clean-up duty in the cafeteria, and a week's detention. Be glad you're not being suspended. Step back."

They did as they were told.

"Now, as for the rest of you, I'll base your punishments off of what actually happened." The man pulled up the security camera footage on his computer monitor, watching the scene unfold. At the end of the clip, he closed out the window again, and turned back to the students."

"All of you-" He turned to the group of jocks. "Will be getting a week's detention as well, along with a week of helping the janitors clean the entire school."

"And all of you-" He turned to the Echidnas. "Will be getting a week's detention."

He turned back to the middle, focusing on the entire group, now. "You will be serving this detention together. I pray that you learn to resolve your issues differently next time.

The bell rang.

"You are dismissed." Omeletteman said.

**Squiggle~Squiggle~ Squiggle~Squiggle~ Squiggle~Squiggle~ Squiggle~Squiggle~ Squiggle~Squiggle~**

**Okay, puny chapter, I know, but I wanted to get this out there, add in a new concept, and give all of you a new chapter just when you thought that this story was never going to be updated EVER. Haha, I'll do my best to try and update all of the stories again from now on, rather than just high school and figure skating.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ello, govnas! Back with another chapter for ya! Just a warning, after this chapter is up, I'm going to be changing my pen name to Symphony-of-the-Soul. You have been warned!**

**Oh, and I do realize that, while in High School and Figure Skating, Hannah's lackey's are named Anna and Montana, and in this one, they are Anna and Lanna. Sorry, there was a mix up when I first made this story! I'm going to stick with it for now, but I may fix it if I ever feel patient and bored enough at the same time to do a makeover for all of my stories.**

**All OC's belong to me or EchidnaGirl, except Danny the Echidna, who belongs to Sekunri.**

**I DO NOT OWN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. :(**

Chapter 7

When the bell rang for class to start, Mr. Blackston, a thin, athletic ferret with dark brown fur, stepped up and started to speak.

"Alright, class, the first day's over, let's get learning." The ferret said, not looking as enthusiastic as he tried sounding. "The papers that were on your desks when you came in are your assignment for this week. Memorize all the states and their capitols in the country. You'll have a test on it next week. This is basic. Have fun." With that, the teacher sat back down, and let the students do as they wished.

Most of the class just started going into their individual groups and talking to one another, about school, about the work they were just given, or whatever else they cared about.

As Peter and Hannah's groups converged, they officially started planning.

"So, this kiss dare… We're going to use it to our advantage." Peter said, so that only the group could hear. "Their group looks like it's about to be broken apart by the way high school works, anyway. Plus, being the dweebs they are, I don't think any of them have had their first kiss yet."

"Alright. So what are you going to do about the guys, then?" Hannah asked.

"I was getting there, Hannah, be quiet." Peter shushed her. "So, the first kiss thing is going to play in with the girls. And then, once we mess up the girls, we're going to push them to drive the guys of the group away. If they're not united, they won't be a problem."

They continued on with the plan, assigning who would be doing what, and when they would be doing it.

Cam just stared at her paper as Kevin pulled up a chair beside her. "This is way too much. How can he expect us to memorize all this in a week?"

"It's not that bad." Kevin said. "I learned this in elementary school."

"You lucky!" Cam said, slapping him in the arm.

Kevin gave her a sheepish grin. "Well, I'm going to spend the time I don't use on this to try to understand the notes we got in science…"

Cam looked up at him, confused. "Science? That stuff is easy. I didn't even need to take notes."

Kevin took his turn slapping Cam in the arm, using a mocking tone of voice. "You lucky!"

"How about this, then?" Cam proposed. "This whole year, you help me with Social Studies and Language arts, and I help you with math and science?"

"Who said I needed help with math?"

"Your report card. You showed it to me, remember?"

"Oh. "

"Then do we have a deal?"

"Yes… but… one more thing…"

"What?"

"Close your eyes. I have something for you."

Cam did as she was told. Then, she felt something warm on her lips. Her eyes snapped open. And just like that, the kiss was over.

"Kevin?" Cam put a hand to her lips. She appeared to be in shock.

"Sorry…" He said, now regretting what he had done.

"Sorry? You just kissed me!"

Mr. Blackston glanced up at the commotion, but soon brushed it off.

Kevin just winced.

"You could have given me a warning or something!"

"I'm sorry, Cam…"

Cam sighed, giving Kevin an annoyed look. "You know you're going to get payback for that. Close your eyes, this won't hurt… much."

This time Kevin closed his eyes, bracing himself. But the hit never came. Instead, he felt a somewhat similar sensation to what Cam had before. His eyes opened slightly- _Cam_ was kissing _him!_ His eyes closed again, and the kiss lasted for about 10 seconds before they split. Sonic let out a wolf whistle—right before Cam smacked Kevin upside the head.

"_That's _how you kiss someone. Jeez." Cam said, crossing her arms.

"Dammit." Peter cursed under his breath. "We're going to need a new plan for those two."

Hannah grinned. "I think I know something…" She whispered something into Peter's ear.

This time he grinned.

Hannah turned to Anna and Lanna. "Find out where she works her third job."

"Right!" Both of them said at the same time. They immediately pulled out their cell phones, texting people and asking who knew. It didn't take long until they got a text back with the address.

"Perfect." Hannah smirked.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

Later, it was drama class, also taught by Ms. Batson.

"Welcome back, class, for drama." She announced. "Now, this year, the play we will be presenting is Beauty and the Beast. Scripts for the different rolls will be on the music stands over there-" she directed the students' attention to the stands at the side of the room with sheets of paper on them. "-and after deciding which part you would like to play, you should practice for try-outs. Know that there _will_ be some singing in this for some parts. Though I'm sure you all can handle it. You _are_ in choir, after all."

Hannah raised her hand, but spoke out without waiting for Ms. Batson to notice or call on her. "What if, when the cast is decided on, we have a problem with someone that we have to have the scenes with?"

"Well, that would depend on the reason. We _could_ rearrange the parts if that happens, though it would be more likely that your part would be changed rather than the other person's. Any other questions?"

There was silence from the class.

"Then get to it." Ms. Batson said.

After ending her announcements, the class went over to the scripts to pick parts. Hannah, of course, went straight for the part of Belle and nothing else. Peter, likewise, went straight for the part of Gaston. Anna and Lanna went for supporting roles, and Butch and Spike just picked up a stage crew request form.

Sonic also went for the part of Gaston.

"Really, Sonic?" Tails asked while picking up a Chip script.

"Yes, really. You get to be fawned over by girls in the part. Duh." Sonic said.

Kevin picked up the Lumiere part.

Cam took note of this. "Lumiere? You said you didn't like him, though."

"Well, he's a minor role that gets _some_ lines. You know I'm not going to get a lead role." Kevin argued.

"You should at least _try_, though."

"Why? There's no point."

"You can't just roll over and let people have what they want just because they have power, Kevin."

"Fine, then, if I have to try out for a lead role, then you have to try out as Belle."

"Fine." Cam picked up a Belle script, much to Hannah's displeasure.

Kevin, in turn, picked up a Beast script and put the Lumiere one back.

None of the girls seemed to want the part of Mrs. Potts, so Amy ended up with a Babette script, Rouge, Wave and Blaze with chorus member parts. Some began rehearsing amongst each other, while others took the time to do homework.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

Later, the bell rang, and the students went to their dorms. Most of the class shared the same dorm area, other than Peter, Hannah, and crew, who had their own personal dorm, the size of two other dorms combined.

The dorm consisted of a living area, with doors to the rooms of either gender's dorms on either side. Within the living area, there were a couple of couches, a tv with satellite television and a dvd player, a kitchen, and a dining area with a large table to accommodate the students. They were gathered around the TV, where Sonic had claimed the remote, talking.

Cam was on the phone located in the dorm, slightly away from those on the couch.

"Yes, sir, I need to take the day off today… No, I just found out an hour and a half ago… I'm in school, how could I have called you? ...Yes, I know you were lucky to hire me in the first place. But if I skip out on this, I'll miss even more work… I know it's an inconvenience, I'm sorry. It's out of my hands. …yes, sir, I'll be there… bye." As she hung up, she sighed.

"Boss mad at you again, huh?" Kevin asked, waiting for her at the door.

"Always." She walked back over to him, and then they went out the door to go to detention.

After much debate, the group around the TV settled on the Extreme Gear racing channel. Knuckles, who was sitting next to Rouge on one of the couches, decided to put his plan into action then. Pretending to yawn, he stretched his arm out around to the back of the couch, behind Rouge. Then, he slowly lowered his arm onto her shoulder. Rouge looked over at him.

"What are you doing, Knucklehead?"

"Um… I'm… making a romantic gesture." Knuckles said, stating the obvious.

This got the attention from Amy and Blaze, who were sitting near enough to hear, and weren't immersed in the race that was on.

"Really, now? Then…" Rouge trailed off, getting up close to Knuckles' face, so their noses were just about to touch. "I'm going to have to make one back."

Knuckles looked flustered, trying to pull away, since his plan hadn't worked the way he thought it would. But, Rouge got to him first, kissing him on the lips. He froze in place for a split second, losing touch with everything else around him. He gave in, closing his eyes and kissing back. When they broke apart, they caught the very end of Amy's "Awwwwwwwwwww~!" This had gotten everyone's attention, and earned the two a lot of stares. Both, seeing that they were under surveillance, turned about as red as Knuckles' fur in the face.

Rouge was the first to snap out of it, the blush going away. "What? It was for the dare."

"Sure, Rouge. Don't lie. You liked it, didn't you?" Amy interrogated.

"I- well-" Rouge stuttered, the blush starting to creep back once again.

Now it was Knuckles' turn to snap out of it, his attention on Rouge.

"…I have to go study." Rouge said quickly, getting up and retreating to her room.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

"-and, once again, NO TALKING." The teacher in charge of detention stressed one last time before leaving the room.

Then, disregarding everything the teacher had just said, the two different groups in the room got up, started talking, and walked away their assigned seats to be near one another.

As soon as all of the echidnas were seated, Jazmin spoke up. "So, what's all this I hear about you two kissing?" She was looking directly at Cam and Kevin.

Danny did a spit take from the soda he had smuggled into the room. "What?" He also looked at Cam and Kevin, demanding an explanation just with his facial expression.

Knuckles sat by, watching the conversation. He was glad to not be interrogated, but at the same time was in no mood to talk about "feelings", when they were back around the very people they were just in a fight with.

"It was a dare." Cam explained.

"We had to pick the person we liked and kiss them." Kevin elaborated.

"So you guys have had a crush on one another for a while, then?" Felicia asked patiently.

Both of the younger Echidnas blushed.

"No, what Kevin left out was, that under the condition you didn't have feelings for someone, you would simply pick the person that you like the most." Cam explained more thoroughly.

"Answer the question." Jazmin demanded.

"No."

"No, Jazmin."

"Well, then, why did you pick each other?" She asked, never letting up.

"I don't know many other girls as well as I know Cam." Kevin said.

"Same. We've been best friends since elementary school. I was just worried the kiss was going to ruin that…" Cam agreed.

"So was I." Kevin nodded.

Felicia frowned. "That's too bad. You two would make such a cute couple…"

Three of the jocks, led by Eric the Bulldog, walked up to the group.

Jazmin glared up at them. "What do you want?"

Knuckles glared up as well, his fists subconsciously clenching.

"Hey, you know, Steve here-" Eric pointed to the jock at his left. "-is _real_ interested in learning your language. He thinks he knows his stuff. Why don't you see if he has it down?"

"_Excuse me?_ Our _language?" _ Jazmin stood up.

Steve took this as a cue. "AGHPGINDFHAWEC BBGVAWHFDGLANDHAFSGHL VAHRJHTUREHTA!" He yelled. After he was done, he laughed, giving and receiving high fives from the other jocks.

"Why I oughta…" Jazmin started marching forward, but Danny stopped her.

"Don't." He said.

"Why not?" Jazmin snapped.

"I've got this." Cam said, standing up. She walked over and tapped the jock that had yelled the jibberish on the shoulder.

He turned around. "What?"

"Oei rujkuht! Xen tuho oei adjick mo vhaodtj udt mo cudwiuwo! A jxeict fidsx oei ad kxo vuso, rik ak ned'k te udokxadw ke bdesb jodjo adke oei, rosuijo oei doot u rhuad veh kxuk! We ke xocc, oei jed ev u raksx!" She yelled.

The jocks just stared at her, having no comprehension of what she just said. Jazmin, on the other hand, couldn't suppress a laugh from coming out.

Cam walked back to the group, sitting down. Jazmin followed suit.

After recovering from the yelling, Eric lead his fellow jocks over once again.

"What did you say?" He yelled.

Cam turned to him calmly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Listen, freak!" Eric grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her up out of her chair. Just then, the teacher stormed in.

"Eric! Put her down at once!" The teacher yelled.

He dropped her, making her land on the floor hard.

"Cameron, Kevin, Felicia, Knuckles, Danny, Jazmin, you are free to go! As for the rest of you, you're going to be in detention for much longer than originally planned!" The teacher yelled.

The echidnas left the room quickly.

"Nice, freshmen." Jazmin patted Cam on the back.

"Believe me, I've been wanting to say that to some of those people for _so long…_" Cam admitted.

"We all have." Felicia admitted. She looked at one of the clocks in the hallway. "I've gotta run. See you tomorrow."

The group split off, everyone going to their separate dorms.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

Cam sighed, having just gotten out of the restaurant where she waitressed. She was now heading to the other, much fancier restaurant where she played piano. It was a fairly good part of the city. Not the best, but by far not the worst. She had been traveling in this part of town for quite a while, and nothing had ever happened. When she reached the building, she went in and changed, before going out to the piano located in the dining room and began to play. Not needing any music, she zoned out, simply letting the music take over. It wasn't until right before her shift was over, nearly an hour later, when she was broken out of this trance. There was a commotion with one of the customers who had gotten drunk. She continued playing, watching as some of the other employees tried getting him under control. Not that they had much, if any experience in dealing with drunken customers. That was rare. Soon, the man got angry at Cam. No doubt the piano ticked him off. He stormed up to her.

"SHHHHUT UUUUP!" He bellowed.

She did so, standing up. This got the other diners' attentions very quickly.

"Sir, I must ask you to leave immediately, or you will be thrown out." She said calmly.

"Like any of you LIMP NOODLES could!" He boasted. "I ain't leaving till I get another drink!"

"Fine." Cam grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back in a way that made it completely useless. With that, she walked him out of the restaurant and onto the sidewalk, while the waiters and waitresses watched in awe. The man was cursing at her the entire time, which she disregarded. Once he was out, she calmly walked back into the restaurant, leaving the other employees to watch the door.

Cam finished her shift and changed back into her normal clothes. She left the building the back way, heading back towards the school by foot. Then, she got the overwhelming sense that someone was watching or following her. She remained calm, and continued walking at the same pace, but focused more. She heard footsteps. Yes, someone was definitely following her. As she turned a corner, she took a glance at who it could be, but they were gone. She continued on, wondering if she was just paranoid.

When all of a sudden, something grabbed her from out of the alley she was just passing.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

**MWAHAHAHA! Cliffie of doom! :D**

**What will happen to Cam? What is in store with the kiss dare? Who will make what in the musical? Find out, next time! **

…**and that was my cheesy TVish ad.**


	8. Chapter 8

**All OC's belong to me or EchidnaGirl, except Danny the Echidna, who belongs to Sekunri.**

**As a warning, this chapter is going to be kind of depressing. Not much humor, I'm afraid. **

**I DO NOT OWN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. :(**

Chapter 8

Kevin paced nervously around the dorm. For the past hour, he had been fidgeting and constantly looking at the clock. At one point he had texted someone. Now, there was a knock at the dorm's door, which Kevin quickly went and answered. It was Danny and Jazmin.

"Is she back yet?" Was the first thing Danny asked.

Kevin shook his head.

"Damn it…" Jazmin cursed.

"What are you all so up-tight about?" Sonic finally asked from the couch, watching TV.

"It's Cameron. She's _never_ this late getting back from work. _Ever_." Kevin explained.

Espio, who was sitting by the one of the outside windows, did what he rarely does: speak up. "If any of you are interested, there are police cars pulling up outside…"

Kevin, Danny, and Jazmin hurried over to the window. The others watched with mild interest.

A couple of police cars pulled up outside, and teachers came out to greet them. The police got out, then opened the door for someone…Cam got out of the back of the car, in a blanket. She looked absolutely miserable, they could tell from just the way she was carrying herself.

"Oh. My. God." Jazmin said.

The teachers escorted her into the building, while the police got into their cars and left. They waited for a few minutes, until Cam was brought up to the dorm. She was no longer with the teachers when she came in, now wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants which were both too big for her.

"Cam! Are you alright?" Kevin ran up to her, grabbing hold of her arms. She flinched away silently.

"That's a no." Jazmin said.

Danny took more time to analyze the situation. "…those aren't your clothes. Or your work clothes. Tell us what happened."

Cam couldn't make eye contact with anyone. She looked down, so that shadows covered her face. She let out a sob, and then ran to her room.

"Cam!" Kevin shouted after her. He didn't follow her, though.

Jazmin walked after her, but turned to the guys. "Call Felicia. Get her over here." She then entered the girls' hallway and headed for Cam's room.

Danny immediately pulled out his cell phone and called Felicia, as he was told. The female echidna was there in 2 minutes.

"What happened?" She looked frazzled, like she was just woken up and had to throw on real clothes before running to the dorm.

"We don't know. She was really late, and came back in a police car, and she wasn't wearing the clothes she left in or her work clothes, and she didn't want to be touched at all, and she couldn't make eye contact." Kevin blurted out.

Felicia made a grim expression, like she already had a guess as to what the problem was. "I'll go talk to her… stay here."

She headed off to the room.

Amy came out of the hallway a few minutes later. "She's crying like crazy in there… I wonder what's the matter…?"

It took about half an hour before Jazmin came out. She looked very unhappy.

"So?" Danny looked up from where he was sitting. Kevin also looked up as well.

Jazmin shook her head, signaling for the two guys to follow her into the kitchen, where they would have a little more privacy.

"What is it, already?" Kevin was clearly getting impatient.

Jazmin took a deep breath. "She was raped."

Complete and utter silence.

Both boys decided to break the silence at the same time, but Jazmin put a hand up to stop them from going into a flurry of angry questions. "Let me tell you what I know, first. She was walking home from work, and she had just kicked a drunken customer out. When she was walking she thought someone was following her, and as soon as the feeling went away, she was grabbed and pulled into the alleyway. She won't tell us anything in between that, and when the guy ran off because a policeman happened to be on patrol and saw them. They took her to the hospital to be looked at, gave her clean clothes because all of hers were ripped, and helped her get a pill so that she won't get pregnant. They asked her a few questions and are looking for the man as we speak. Anything else?"

Danny looked ready to destroy something. "That _**bastard!**_ I'll track him down _myself_, and I'll _kill_ him!"

Kevin was about the opposite. He was in shock, and completely speechless.

Danny headed for the door, but Jazmin grabbed his arm before he could reach it. "Danny, I know you're upset… but you have to be reasonable about this. Let the police do their job. Ours is to help Cam through it as much as we can." Her face darkened. "Besides, we have no idea what the guy looks like or what his name is. We have to _find_ him before we can _kill_ him."

Danny stopped at the door. "I guess you're right."

It was then that they were alerted to the presence of the other people in the dorm, now staring at them.

"_What_ happened?" Tails asked. "You were really quiet in the kitchen."

"That was the _point_." Jazmin pointed out. "And if you can't put the pieces together yourself, you're going to have to wait until Cam is ready to tell you."

"We can't help if we're clueless…" Amy argued.

"We have the help covered. Felicia is going to stay with her tonight… let's talk about this more in the morning." Danny suggested, thinking rationally again.

Not waiting for an answer, Danny and Jazmin left for their own dorm.

"What is it with echidnas? It's like they like to be isolated and not get any help from anyone else." Sonic asked.

"Hey." Knuckles glared over at Sonic.

Kevin then emerged from the kitchen, still in shock.

"Kevin, tell us, what happened? No one will tell us." Amy asked again.

Kevin shook his head. "I still need to think this over… we'll talk tomorrow." He headed off to his room slowly.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

The next morning, while getting ready, neither Cam nor Felicia ever emerged from Cam's room. Amy insisted that they all wait until the last possible minute for them to come out before leaving, but they had no such luck, and were almost late for class. Walking through the hallways, they could already hear the rumors spreading around from the other students who saw Cam getting out of the police car from their windows.

When they got to science class, Eggman still hadn't arrived yet, but Hannah, Peter, and crew were already sitting in their seats. Kevin stormed over to Peter and Hannah's desk, and slammed his hands down.

"Excuse me. I was reading that." Hannah glanced up at Kevin, referring to the magazine that was now under Kevin's hand.

"I don't care. What did you do?" He asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hannah said, now finding it more beneficial to look at her nails than at Kevin.

"Don't lie. What did you do?" He asked again.

"Why don't you get your filthy hands off of our desk?" Peter half-suggested, half-demanded.

"Seriously. Why would _we _have anything to do with the fact that Cameron was assaulted after work last night?" Lanna added from the other table.

"Lanna! Shut up!" Anna covered the other girl's mouth. But it was too late.

"I knew it!" Kevin looked about ready to kill the two in front of him.

"Go ahead and try it." Hannah dared him. "But you'll have no argument. I gave one of Peter's father's contacts a recommendation for a restaurant. The fact that he's an alcoholic and has been accused of sexual assault before never played any role in my decision. Nor did my knowledge of the restaurant where Cameron works."

"You little-"

"Alright, class, calm down, go to your seats." Kevin was cut off by Eggman.

Peter gave Kevin a "shoo shoo" motion, and all Kevin could do was take Hannah's magazine, crumple it up, and throw it into the trash can on his way to his seat. As the class started with a boring lecture, Kevin pulled out his phone and texted the upperclassmen what he had learned, not bothering with the notes everyone else was writing.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

"So, I was thinking…" Blaze walked up to Silver in the hallway on their way to the next class. "There's a loophole to this dare. We don't actually have to kiss someone. We just need two people to _say_ that we did."

"But Blaze, isn't that kind of cheating?"

"It's not a good dare, anyway. And Jannette is a ditz. She just wants some boy to fall in love with her and kiss her. Cougar."

"But I thought she was just a regular cat…"

Blaze sighed. "It's a term for a woman who likes younger men, Silver. Way younger."

"Oh…"

"Do you think it would-" Blaze's words were drowned out by a commotion coming from farther down the hallway. She and Silver automatically turned their attention to the source of the noise.

It was a scene very similar to that of the cafeteria, with a different setting and slightly different participants. Every echidna but Cam had come and confronted Peter and Hannah about their doings, but were mainly looking for a name.

"Look, _Princess," _Jazmin spat at Hannah, taking a step towards her. "You'd better tell us who that guy was, or you're going to get it!"

Hannah giggled. "Well, you see, I _would_ tell you his name – he is nothing but trash – but that would be giving you what you want, and I can't do that, now can I?"

"How can you just let a rapist go loose?" It was Kevin's turn to step forward. "How can you just let him go when you know that he raped someone you know - in your grade – and you could very well be next?"

This comment got some concerned murmurs from the girls in the crowd.

"Please. He was running around before, too."

"But not as a rapist."

Hannah looked around and caught the eyes of all of the people on her. The worried looks of some of the girls and the glares from others – the boys with any range of emotion from wanting a fight to just barely holding back the urge to argue against her. The peer pressure turned out to be too much.

"…Fine." Hannah dug into her purse, pulling out a card and throwing it over to Jazmin, who caught it in between her fingers with ease. "That's his card. Do what you want."

The crowd disbanded as Hannah and Peter walked away through them.

"Good job, little prefect." Felicia walked up to Kevin and ruffled his hair a bit.

As soon as Jazmin finished looking at the card, she handed it to Danny, who immediately read over every detail of the card.

"Hey…" Kevin moved his hair back in order as Felicia finally took the card.

"Can I see it?" Kevin asked.

"I think it's better that you not." Felicia glanced up from the card. "We're going to go to the computer lab and see what other information we can dig up. As for you, you should go to class. You have to set a good example, remember? Besides, we're probably going to leave the school as soon as we find all of the information we can on the computer, and Cam needs someone to be with her. I'm going to have you fill in for me. Got it? She's had some alone time today already, so don't let her have any more."

Kevin nodded, but looked curious. "What's happened?"

Felicia shook her head. "She's really depressed. Just don't let her do anything stupid."

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

When Kevin entered Cam's room, he could almost sense a wave of negative energy washing over him from inside. The room itself was fairly tidy, with only a few things out of place here and there. Cam was sitting on her bed and leaning up against a couple of pillows, her legs curled up close to her body. She was wearing very comfortable pajamas that appeared to also be very warm. She had a big set of headphones on that were blasting music so loud that Kevin could hear the music from 5 feet away, and her arms were wrapped around her favorite and only stuffed animal – a medium-sized penguin plush named Edwardo.

She didn't notice Kevin as he walked up. The loud music prevented her from hearing him, and she was staring at the wall across the room in an empty gaze. Kevin put a hand on her shoulder.

"Cam?" He tried getting her attention. It wasn't hard to do.

She jumped as soon as his hand made contact, immediately looking at him. Kevin noticed that Edwardo was getting squeezed fairly tight.

"Relax. It's just me." He said, though he knew she couldn't hear him.

Cam removed her headphones slowly.

"Kevin, what are you…?"

"I'm filling in for Felicia."

"…Oh."

"Do you need anything?"

Cam shook her head.

"How much have you eaten today? And don't lie."

"…nothing."

"Okay. I'll go get you some food."

"I'm not hungry…"

"Cam, it doesn't matter. You need to eat."

"But…"

"Just wait here." Kevin left the room, going to the small kitchen in the dorm to get Cam an apple – her favorite - and some water.

Returning to the room, Cam was where Kevin had left her. He handed her the apple and water. She just stared at them.

"Cam, Come on. You have to eat."

"But…"

"Please?"

Cam looked at him, back at the apple, and back to him before taking a bite of the apple. It didn't take long for her to finish it, she was hungrier than she had thought. Kevin took the core from her and went to throw it away. When he came back, Cam was no longer on the bed. He heard noise from the bathroom, and the door was ajar.

"Cam, what's going on?" Kevin called.

He received no answer, and he heard Cam cough from behind the door. He approached it and pushed it open cautiously, only to find Cam leaning over the toilet. She reached up and flushed it, taking some toilet paper to wipe her mouth as she sat down on the bathroom floor. Kevin went and sat by her.

"Is everything alright? What happened?"

"…I should have told you… I can't stomach food…" Cam threw the toilet paper into the trash can nearby.

"I'm sorry, Cam. I didn't know." He held his arms out, offering her a hug.

Cam looked extremely hesitant at first, and Kevin thought that she was going to refuse. But then, slowly, she leaned forward and hugged him. Kevin closed his arms around her, being sure to be as gentle as possible. After a few seconds, he could feel her start to cry. Kevin couldn't think of anything to say that could offer any comfort whatsoever. They stayed that way for what seemed like hours, Kevin only hugging Cam and occasionally petting her hair to try and soothe her. By the time she stopped crying, Kevin's shirt was soaked through in the area where Cam had put her head. She fell asleep, and Kevin carried her to her bed, covering her up and pulling up a chair to sit by her.

He pulled out his phone and texted Felicia, just vaguely noticing that it had been 2 hours since he had went and gotten Cam the apple.

**Kevin: How is your search coming?**

**Felicia: We're on his trail, but he's tricky. How is she?**

**Kevin: She threw up when I gave her some food, and she cried some. But she's asleep now.**

**Felicia: You got her to sleep?**

**Kevin: Yes…**

**Felicia: She hasn't been able to sleep at all since she came back. What did you give her?**

**Kevin: A hug…?**

**Felicia: Wait, you hugged, too? Any physical contact freaked her out before. It was semi-alright with me, since I'm a girl, but you…?**

**Kevin: Okay…**

**Felicia: I think you're going to have to be the one to watch her most of the time from now on. If you've made that much progress with her already, you have to be doing something right.**

**Kevin: I've barely done anything, though…**

**Felicia: I don't think you need to. We'll be back by curfew if we don't find him.**

**Kevin: Okay. Good luck.**

Kevin sighed and glanced over at Cam. She was in an extremely deep sleep. Just looking at her now would give no indication of what had happened to her, she looked extremely peaceful. Suddenly aware of his own need for food, he stood up and left the room once again.

Needless to say, word had spread. The rest of the dorm now knew what had happened to Cam, and Amy approached Kevin in the kitchen as soon as she knew that he was out.

Rouge and Wave were chatting nearby, both enjoying a smoothie.

"How is she? Is she alright?" Amy asked Kevin.

"She's about as alright as she can be right now, I think. She's sleeping."

"That's good." Amy replied, not exactly satisfied.

"Not necessarily." Wave piped in. "I've read some articles. A lot of women who were raped have nightmares for a while afterwards. It might not have been a good idea to leave her in there alone. After all, what would you do when you woke up after re-living that again?"

"I have no idea…" Amy tried thinking about it, but couldn't seem to find any answer.

"She looked very peaceful when I left. No dreams, no nightmares. The sleep was deep." Kevin said.

"Whatever you say, Hon, but I wouldn't get your hopes up." Rouge took a sip of her smoothie.

"Then would any of you go and watch her for me?" Kevin asked.

"I would, but I have a ton of homework to get done still…" Amy said, looking somewhat guilty.

"I wouldn't be too much of a comfort to be around." Rouge said.

"Nor would I. I would probably tell her to suck it up and get over it if she got on my nerves too much." Wave agreed.

"Alright, alright." Kevin decided to finish his sandwich quickly and get back to the room, which took him about 10 minutes.

When he got back to the room, Cam was gone once again, and so was Edwardo. This time, he heard the shower running in the bathroom, and the door was all the way open. Kevin figured that the shower curtain would be pulled if there was something that shouldn't be seen, so he looked in. The curtain wasn't closed, but it didn't need to be. Cam was on the floor of the shower, curled up into the little ball she was in when he had walked into the room and saw her the first time, fully clothed and still holding Edwardo. Water was constantly dripping down her face, but she was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Cam, what happened?" Kevin asked, kneeling down by the tub.

He got no answer, but after what Wave said, he knew. He pulled out his phone.

**Kevin: Felicia, Come back. I need some help.**

Not waiting for a response, Kevin closed his phone and put it away. He first moved Cam's razor out of the shower, which was what he was the most worried about. Then, leaving the water running, he went and got a big stack of towels out of her closet. Coming back with the towels, he turned the water off and put a towel around Cam's shoulders. In some attempt to cheer her up, he took a small hand towel and put it around Edwardo, too. Then all he could do was wait, not wanting to touch her or do anything to make her panic.

Felicia ran in about 15 minutes later.

"Kevin, the least you could have done was answer my texts!" She yelled at the door to the room. She moved to the bathroom, and took the scene in. "Okay, what happened?"

"She was asleep and seemed peaceful, and I got hungry. I went to have a sandwich. It took about 10 minutes. I came back and she was sitting in the shower with it running, all of her clothes on, just like this. I texted you, turned the shower off, and put a towel on her." Kevin explained.

"Okay, Kevin. Good job. I'll take it from here. You'd better leave the room. Ask Jazmin to come in." Felicia instructed.

Kevin nodded, leaving the room as he was told. Jazmin and Danny were outside of the room, apparently planning methods of torture since they weren't searching for the man anymore.

"If it hurts me just thinking about it, it has to be a good idea." Danny said, nodding to what seemed to be an idea from Jazmin.

"Um… Jazmin, Felicia wants you to go in there and help…" Kevin cut in awkwardly.

Jazmin turned to Kevin. "Alright." She nodded to Danny. "We'll plan more later." With that, she entered the room and closed the door behind her.

Kevin looked to Danny. "How has the search gone?"

"We found where he lives, but he's not there. He was probably at work, where there are too many witnesses…" Danny uttered the last part, clearly not pleased with the fact.

Kevin sweatdropped. "Why don't you tell the police?"

"You really believe that they'd take the word of a bunch of high school students? I don't think so."

"But still, it's worth a shot…" Kevin still wanted the police involved.

"If we tip the police off, then they'll get in the way of killing him." Danny said it so seriously that it made Kevin shut up.

Jazmin emerged once again from the room. "She's changed and mostly dry - which can't be said for her penguin thing – but she's a wreck. She had a nightmare. Basically re-lived the entire thing. She got into the shower to try to wash the dirty feeling off. Felicia is going to watch her for tonight. Let's get some rest, shall we?"

The two male echidnas nodded, and the three of them parted ways for their dorms.

Meanwhile, Amy and Sonic were on one of the couches, watching them.

"It's like they're a family. A really dysfunctional family." Amy said.

Sonic nodded. "None of them seem like a mom or a dad, though. They just seem like a bunch of siblings who raised each other without a parent around."

"That's basically it." Kevin said from behind them. When they looked up at him in shock, he moved and sat down in one of the single-seat chairs. "Cameron doesn't have parents. Felicia's dad is a workaholic and she never sees him, while her mom might as well be single. She goes around to bars, gets drunk, picks up guys and brings them home while Felicia's dad is away. Danny just flat out doesn't know his parents. Jazmin's mother is a single mom who is suffering from depression and is a recovering drug addict. When she's not working to support Jazmin she's at therapy, sleeping, or avoiding the drug dealers that still harass her. As for me, I have both of my parents, but they're divorced. My dad is an alcoholic but has a good job at a company. My mother works at a salon and wishes that she had a daughter instead. We met each other because of our classmates. I'm sure you remember the incident with your friend Knuckles. The common belief that echidnas are freaks of nature and the fact that teachers aren't doing anything about it made us easy targets for bullying. We ended up sitting together at lunch and found a way to keep each other from getting bullied too badly – that started in elementary school."

"Wow." Was all Amy could say.

"Just try not to bring it up. It hits a raw nerve with a lot of the others…" Kevin sighed. "I should go do my homework. Later." Kevin stood up and nodded to the two hedgehogs, then walked away.

**~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~squiggle~**

**Okay, so I wanted to write more… I swear… but writer's block is attacking my brain, and I figure that it will be easier to start up from another spot. Not to mention the fact that I've deprived you of another chapter for a while.**


End file.
